Religious Liberty Versus a Government Without Limits

I am concerned about an issue that you may have heard in recent weeks. Perhaps you ignored it because it sounded like a Roman Catholic issue but the implications are much broader than Catholics, it is an issue of religious liberty. You have probably observed the recent firestorm of publicity responding to the changes proposed by the Obama Administration concerning contraception and religious institutions other than churches. The current administration is telling Catholics that they have to purchase contraception (which Catholics don’t use because of their belief system). You may be thinking, “Baptists and evangelicals don’t hold the same beliefs as Roman Catholics concerning contraception.” We don’t. Then what is the issue? What is at stake here is whether or not there is any limit to government power.

Daniel Henninger in the Wall Street Journal wrote, “The American Catholic Church is now being handed a lesson in the hierarchy of raw political authority.” He continues in his article, “The question for all of us is whether anyone can remain free of a U.S. government determined to do what it wants to do, at whatever cost.” One of the reasons that America is great is because of the religious liberty that we have. There were two religious groups that fought for religious liberty: the Quakers and the Baptists. Those two groups were tired of being persecuted in other countries because of their religious beliefs. Those two groups came to what became the United States because of the hope of freedom. Our Baptist forefathers stood up against those who wanted a Church State. We wanted freedom and we were given it but now we must fight to retain that freedom.

What do we do now? We must stand alongside our Catholic brothers and sisters and say, “Enough. You may not intrude upon our religious beliefs; you may not prohibit us from living out our faith.” Church Colson writes, “The current administration’s new policy signals an unprecedented shift in the relationship between government and religion that should be vigorously resisted through written persuasion, the voting booth and if necessary, civil disobedience.”

A word of caution: don’t be alarmist. I quit watching most news channels because of the alarmism and hype I see in the media. Our tone as Christians should not be driven by fear or panic, since we are receiving a “kingdom that cannot be shaken” (Heb. 12:28). The sky is not falling. But there are some things that need to be said as we fight for justice. The government has no Constitutional authority over religious issues. Let us pray and let us fight that we can keep our religious liberty.

No doubt about it, the Bible is a unique book or should I say it is a collection of sixty six books. I think it was Bill Wilson that described the Bible’s uniqueness in the following way:

1. Written over a 1500 year span;

2. Written over 40 generations;

3. Written by more than 40 authors, from every walk of life – including kings, peasants, philosophers, fishermen, poets, statesmen, scholars, etc.:

Moses, a political leader, trained in the universities of Egypt

Peter, a fisherman

Amos, a herdsman

Joshua, a military general

Nehemiah, a cupbearer

Daniel, a prime minister

Luke, a doctor

Solomon, a king

Matthew, tax collector

Paul, a rabbi

4. Written in different places:

Moses in the wilderness

Jeremiah in a dungeon

Daniel on a hillside and in a palace

Paul inside a prison

Luke while traveling

John on the isle of Patmos

Others in the rigors of a military campaign

5. Written at different times:

David in times of war

Solomon in times of peace

6. Written during different moods: Some writing from the heights of joy and others from the depths of sorrow and despair

7. Written on three continents: Asia, Africa and Europe

8. Written in three languages: Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek

9. Finally, its subject matter includes hundreds of controversial topics. Yet, the biblical authors spoke with harmony and continuity from Genesis to Revelation. There is one unfolding story. It is the story of the God of the universe has created a place to come down and be with a community of people. God wants to be with us. The real point of God’s Story found in the Bible is that God wants to be with us. The God of the universe has created a place to come down and be with a community of people. He no longer wanted only to enjoy the perfect community he had as the Trinity (Father, Son, Holy Spirit). He wanted to share it with us. The Bible records that story of the lengths that God would go to in order to have a relationship with us. That is an amazing truth to mediate on.

Have you ever thought about your desires? I was reminded of that this week as I read the story of Noah’s day. Genesis 6 records the desires of people of Noah’s generation this way: Genesis 6:5, “The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” Every one of their thoughts was only evil continually. Wouldn’t you hate to live in a world where people did whatever desire or impulse came up all of the time? Apparently the people of Noah’s generation lived without any sense of restraint

Have you noticed the internal strife that we all have? The great spiritual war being fought for control of our hearts is a war of desire. (see James 4:1-4 and 1 Peter 2:11) Remember this biblical principle: whatever rules your heart will control your words and behavior. We do not live by instinct. We have been designed by God with the capacity to desire. This means that everything you do or say is done or spoken out of the want for something. You and I are always seeking something. You and I are always living for something. Beneath everything we do is the desire for something. Here the war of right and wrong is fought. Here the direction of our lives will be shaped. In your personal life and in crucial moments of response or decision, you cannot let yourself think that the war for what is right is a war of behavior. If you fight the battle of behavior alone, the battle will not be won. You must be willing to fight the spiritual battle at the place where your behavior is formed: in the desires of your heart.

You and I are creatures of desire. Everything you choose, do or say is the product of desire. Desire not only directs your choices, it also shapes your dreams. Desire forms your moments of greatest joy and darkest grief. Desire makes you envy one person while being glad you are not another. Desire keeps you awake at night or puts you soundly to sleep. Desire makes you willing to get up in the morning or causes you to be frustrated at the end of the day. Desire makes you expectant and hopeful in one moment and demanding and complaining in the next. Desire can make you the best of friends or cause you to drive people away. Desire can cause you to be willing to give or cause you to hoard everything you have. Desire will cause you to submit to the King or set yourself up as king. There is one thing for certain: your life is always shaped by desire.

Could you say with the Psalmist (Psalm 73:25) “Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you”. Does that describe you? Does that sound ethereal and impractically super spiritual to you? Does it feel like a moral impossibility? In fact, he is expressing in a phrase exactly where God wants each of us to be. It is the reason each of us was given life and breath. We were made for God. We were created to love him above all else. We were designed to live with his glory as the single motivator of all that we do.

Randy Alcorn writes, “God isn’t displeased when we enjoy a good meal, marital sex, a football game, a cozy fire, or a good book. He is not up in Heaven frowning at us and saying, “Stop it – you should only find joy in me.” Remember that all secondary joys are derivative in nature. They cannot be separated from God. Flowers are beautiful for one reason – God is beautiful. Rainbows are stunning because God is stunning. Puppies are delightful because God is delightful. Sports are fun because God is fun. Behind every desire you have is a desire that God has given you. Every good gift comes from the Heavenly Father. Practice restraint against those desires that lead you away from God but have huge desires for all of the great gifts that God has given to you.

The resume of Jesus is rather simple. Jesus never married, never had children, never ran for political office, never oversaw a large company, never played Mexican train, never traveled more than a few hundred miles from his house, never visited a big city, and never went to college. Yet Jesus Christ today is the most extraordinary, the most loved and hated, the most widely considered person in all of human history. More songs have been sung to him, more paintings painted of him, and more books written about him than anyone who has ever lived in the history of the world.

The name, Jesus Christ, is very indicative of his ministry. Jesus is the derivative of the Old Testament name Joshua (Yeshua), which means “Yahweh God Saves,” and Christ means anointed of God or the anointed one of God come to save God’s people.

Paul warned us in 2 Corinthians 11:3-4 that there would be a lot of perspectives about Jesus – a lot of opinions and a lot of false Christ’s and false impressions of Jesus. Paul warns against someone coming to proclaim a different Jesus with a different gospel than the one Jesus intended. What Paul predicted did happen as there are many who came with a different perspective of Jesus than the one presented in the Bible.

There is the cult that spun out of Orthodox Christianity. They would say, “All religions basically believe the same thing.” They would say, “Jesus is a good man, but not the God man. He may have been the best man that ever lived, but he is not God.”

If you were to go to a Jehovah’s Witness, they would say that “Jesus is a created being. He is actually the archangel Michael. He is the first product of Jehovah God’s creative work. When he was born of the Virgin Mary, he was divested of his spiritual, angelic nature and become wholly and exclusively a man. Jesus isn’t God. Would anyone like a Watchtower?”

If you went to a Mormon, and said, “Who is Jesus?” They would say, “He was the first born child of Elohim. He was the product of the physical union between the Father God and the Virgin Mary. He is not eternal God, but is a polygamist man who was the half brother of Lucifer that became one of many God’s. The good news is that if we work hard enough we too can become sons of God in the same sense that Jesus is. Please, no coffee for me.”

If you go to a Unitarian Universalist, they will say that “Jesus Christ is the incarnation of Mr. Rogers – that he is a really super duper nice, sweet guy, and he only has nice things to say, and he wants to take everyone to Disneyland.”

If you ask a New Ager, “What do you think about Jesus?,” you will get a lot of opinions, but many of them will be congruent with the teachings of Deepak Chopra who said, “I see Christ as a state of consciousness that we all aspire to.”

The list could go on and on. So which Jesus is the real Jesus? Listen to what the New Testament writers said about Jesus. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through Him all things were made; without Him nothing was made that has been made.” (John 1:1-3). “The son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by His powerful word. (Hebrews 1:3)”. “The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God” (2 Cor. 4:4). “Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped.” (Philippians 2:5-6).

So, what Christ do you serve? Is He a watered down version of the real thing? Are you serving the Christ of Scripture? Do you recognize Him as God? Do you acknowledge Him as Creator, Sustainer and the end of all there is?

Have you ever been blown away by something? Watching Eli Manning pass the football, Blaine Griffin dunking the basketball, the sunset in Hawaii, Isaac Stern playing Beethoven’s Sonata in C Minor on his violin, the Rocky Mountains; these are just a few things that can inspire. But the Psalmist writes of something much greater than any mountain majesty. He writes of the majesty that created the mountain. He shares in Psalm 33:6-8 “By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and by the breath of his mouth all their host. He gathers the waters of the sea as a heap; he puts the deeps in storehouses. Let all the earth fear the LORD; let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him.” (English Standard Version)

I don’t think we have categories that get at what these words are saying. Are we losing the sense of awe? Do we remember what it is to have awe of God? At breakfast you may say something like, “Wow, this cereal is awesome.” Or “we had an awesome time at the park.” Or “this coffee is awesome.” Have we elevated something that we have made or something that God has made to the level of God? It is possible to go throughout the day without the sense of awe of God. What should stun us doesn’t stun us anymore. What should leave us in silent, amazed worship has become so familiar it barely gets our attention in clutter of all the other things that clutter our attention. We don’t notice the glory displayed all around us that points us to the one glory that is truly glorious: the glory of God.

Sin robs that sense of divine wonder meant to shape every person’s life. When it does, you look for ways to fill the void. Now think about it: if you are not getting your wonderment vertically – that is from the Creator – then you will look for it somewhere in the creation. You will be shopping for the buzz of wonder where it simply cannot be found. Your friends and family cannot give you the awe you seek. That new restaurant will  make your taste buds shout for joy, but it won’t introduce you to the heart satisfying wonder of God. That new electronic game will make you happy for a while, but it doesn’t have the capacity to fill your soul with glory.

Nothing in creation is like God. Everything around us is flawed in some way. Even before the fall of humankind, no glory in creation compared to the glory of the Creator. Sin has the power to make us blind to the glory of God. Sadly, awe of God is quickly replaced by awe of something else.

The Psalmist’s conclusion (Psalm 33:8) was, “Let the whole world fear the LORD.” What about you? When is the last time you stopped and stood in awe of God? When have you let your mind go and just bask in His greatness, His power and His infiniteness? No one can do it for you. The good news is, it’s easier than you think. Just stop. Close your eyes and whisper, “How mighty You are, dear God.” Let it sink in and add, “I stand in awe of You, almighty Lord.” Then wait. Muse on Him. Pause and let the majesty of God flood your soul. Meditate; He is awesome, He is mighty, He loves you. Today, stand in awe of Him.

Nobody has ever inspired the human race the way that Jesus did. I don’t know of any other person in human history who has a whole academic field named for them as does Jesus Christ: the field of Christology. Colossians 1:15-20 makes some of the most staggering claims about the person Jesus Christ that has ever been made about any person in human history. When Paul writes “He” I am going to write “Jesus” so we can be staggered and inspired again by what Paul is saying. “(Jesus) is the image of the invisible God; (Jesus) the firstborn over all creation. For by him (Jesus) all things were created; things in heaven and on earth; visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers of authorities, all things were created through (Jesus). (Jesus) is before all things and in (Jesus) all things hold together. And (Jesus) is the head of the body, the church; (Jesus) is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in all things (Jesus) might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in (Jesus). And through (Jesus), to reconcile to Himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through (Jesus) blood, shed on the cross.”

Those are unbelievable words. This passage is actually a poem or a hymn and it was not the last time a human being would be so inspired by the person of Jesus, that they would feel the need of some kind of artistic vehicle to express it.

Who is Jesus? Colossians 1:15-20 says:

· When you see Jesus, you see God;

· Jesus, as the divine Son of God, created all things;

· Because Jesus is God, He has the right to have the first place in your life.

You may say, “So what? What difference does it make?” Because of who Jesus is and what He has done, believers are called to live daily under His lordship. Paul challenged the Colossians in this regard when he wrote: “Whatever you do, do it enthusiastically, as something done for the Lord and not for men, knowing that you will receive the reward of an inheritance from the Lord – you serve the Lord Christ” (Colossians 3:23-24).

Reggie McNeal tells of sitting on a bench on a beach boardwalk late one afternoon, resting after an hour walk. He had passed a woman in a green uniform pushing a broom several times. She came toward his bench doing her meticulous sweeping of the sidewalk. Suddenly she stopped, wiped her forehead, and rested on her broom. Reggie called out to her: "You do a great job."

"Thank you," she replied. Then she added something that explained why the sidewalk behind her was spotless. "I just believe people want to walk on a clean sidewalk." Reggie was humbled to be in the presence of a worker who viewed her task with such significance. Whatever the park service was paying her, there's no way they could have demanded the excellence she brought to her work. That kind of motivation comes from within.

Whatever you do, do it for the glory of God. Martin Luther King Jr said it like this: If it falls your lot to be a street sweeper, sweep streets like Michelangelo painted pictures, sweep streets like Beethoven composed music, sweep streets like Shakespeare wrote poetry. Sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will have to pause and say: Here lived a great street sweeper who swept his job well.

May you be inspired by who Jesus is that you live a life whole heartedly devoted to Him.

Is God Good?

We have an enemy that is out to destroy us. The Bible introduces him as the serpent in Genesis 3. Satan’s desire is to trip you up with temptation. How does he tempt you? Genesis 3 tells us how he came to Eve and he put doubts in Eve’s mind that perhaps God isn’t good. It would be great if he came with his pitchfork and horns on his head but he comes in a disguise. Sometimes he wants to talk theology as he did with Eve. He asks Eve, “Did God really say you must not eat from any tree in the garden?” The devil is a religious devil. He doesn’t come to you and knock on the door of your soul and say, “Pardon me, sir, give me a half hour of your life. I’d like to damn you and destroy you.”

Satan begins with a lie to Eve in Genesis 3. He twists the truth and misquotes God. Did God say Adam and Eve could not eat from any tree at all? No. God said they could eat from every tree except one. In Genesis 2:9 we are told that there were all sorts of trees that were beautiful to see and the fruit was delicious to eat. Adam and Eve were invited to feast on the fruit of all of them. They could not eat from any tree except one. But the serpent taunts them by saying that God would not let them eat from any tree at all.

What is the serpent up to here? He wants to plant a doubt in the woman’s mind. He wants her to doubt the goodness of God. He wants her to think, “Perhaps I can’t trust God after all. Maybe God doesn’t have my best interests at heart. If I obey God then I might miss out on something good, so I guess if I can’t trust God then I will have to watch out for myself in this world. The decision to sin always involves these kinds of thoughts. You and I have to choose to believe the evil one who lies to us or God who is always the truth teller.

Satan is a very serious adversary for two reasons. One, he is smarter than we are and two, he has more experience. He has been observing human history and human conduct since the beginning. He understands people better than people understand themselves. He understands how human interaction works. He understands how human motivation works. He is very adept at what he does.

“Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you” James 4:7. How do you resist the devil? You can focus your attention on God’s restrictions or you can focus on all that God has given you. When you focus on God’s goodness it causes you to respond in worship. Worship empowers you to think correctly and deny sin in your life.

But you say, “If God is good, why isn’t the world better?” Or we ask, “Is God indifferent or incompetent?” Our natural tendency is to believe that if God is good and he loves mankind, then he will make life pleasant for us. Consequently, when things go well for us, we are inclined to think that God is good, and when they don’t, we question his goodness or even his existence. Our current happiness is not a standard by which to judge God’s goodness. We are not the center of the universe. We are not the reference point against which goodness can be judged. It sounds silly even to say it, but we act and think as though God’s goodness depends on how well we like what is going on.

The only way for us to get to know if God is good or not is to get to know him. When we experience his character first hand then God reveals himself to us, we then know that God is good. There is no other good but God. He is the source of everything that is good. But don’t take my word for it. Get to know him yourself.

I have not always been one to slow down long enough to reflect on my life events. I finish one project only to begin the next one without much space. In the past I have not taken the time to grieve over the losses and celebrate the victories.  Reflecting is a discipline that I wish to include in 2012, so I thought I would begin late 2011 to evaluate some of what happened in the past year. I am writing these things to you to encourage you to do the same. Take some time before we get too far into the New Year so that you can grieve your losses and celebrate what God has done in 2011.

What am I thankful for in the past year and what things have grieved me?

I am grateful for the life adventure of 39 years with my wife, Gayla. That relationship is always evolving as the both of us and our circumstances change. I watch her interact with our family in always a loving manner as she desires the best for them.

I thank God for my two children and daughter in law. They have had challenges in the past year that they have met and continue to grow.

I thank God that Gayla and I paid off our Prescott house in 2010. That gave us the ability to purchase a house in foreclosure in Prescott Valley.

I give thanks for some men and women in our church that helped us repair, repaint and move into our Prescott Valley home.

We grieve the loss of my son’s job which led to the loss of his house. Thank God he found a job at Walmart and went back to college.

I grieve with all of the other parents who have a child with Mental Illness. I have been heartbroken over this issue for years but this year has been exceptionally hard.

I thank God that we were able to help our son and his family to move into our Prescott house where he lives with his wife and their three children. (My daughter lives downstairs).

I thank God that I am allowed to see my grandchildren every week to watch them grow up. What a thrill it is to take them to the park. Cody (9) is learning to take small risks on his razor scooter. Sam (3) is following in the steps of his older brother and is learning to balance on his scooter. I enjoyed watching them feed the ducks at the park.

I thank God that I was able to allow my daughter in law drive my Hyundai Santa Fe. I thank God that a friend gave me her 1994 Honda Accord car to drive. It is amazing how God continues to provide for us.

I thank God that many of our ministries that are doing well and have increased in number this past year.

I thank God for two former meth users that I was able to baptize this past year. What a difference Jesus makes in the lives of people.

I thank God for the others who were baptized (some as old as 75).

I thank God for a church member who was concerned about one of these former meth users that she gave $1,000 to fix this woman’s teeth. I thank God for the others who contributed the other $1,500 to pay for the dentures. I thank God for a dentist who cut his fees in half to extract teeth and make dentures for this young mother of three. I thank God that I am in a church that believes in people can be redeemed.

I thank God for the generosity of our people to give over $30,000 toward our benevolence ministry.
I thank God for all of the people who helped us raise vegetables to give to those in need this past year in our Project Harvest venture.

I grieve the hydrocephalic baby that was born to a couple in our church. I rejoice that they love that child and treat him as a gift from God.

I thank God that our 9:30 worship service is full to overflowing causing us to begin a duplicate worship service at 11 a.m..

I thank God for the team that God is raising up to reach out to the second generation (20 to 35 years of age).

I thank God that one of our mission teams to India was able to install a water harvesting system so that they could have water. I thank God that I saw the excitement in the eyes of Yesudass as he saw the rain water we had captured flowing into the 26,000 gallon cistern we had built. I thank God that the cistern now has water for the family to drink and for fish to be raised.

My list could go on and on but I will quit here realizing that I could add many more items to the page. Do you get the idea of doing a year in reflection? Take some time to reflect on this past year. Sit down with a pencil and paper or on your computer. Write out what has grieved you over the past year and celebrate what God has done or is doing. I am convinced that you will see how good God is. Thank Him for the grace you have experienced. God is good all of the time.

I forgot where I heard this statement: The culture in which we live is not “church broke.” It is not the culture in which many of us were raised where we, at least, knew the Bible stories. Jay Leno periodically does “man on the street” interviews. One night he asked questions about the Bible. Jay Leno asked two college aged women, “Can you name one of the Ten Commandments? One replied, “Freedom of speech?” Leno then asked the other student: “Complete the following sentence: let he who is without sin….” She said, “have a good time.” Leno then turned to the young man and asked, “Who, according to the Bible, was eaten by a whale?” The confident answer was “Pinocchio.”

We do have a growing sense of biblical illiteracy in our culture and sometimes in the church. Understanding a Christian worldview is crucial for you to understand who you are. Genesis 1-11 defines the Christian worldview. For example the first few words of the Bible are extremely revealing: “At the beginning of God’s creating of the heavens and the earth.” The Tanakh (the Jewish Bible) translates Genesis 1:1 as,”When God began to create heaven and earth.” In Hebrew it is two words: “Bereshith Elohim.”

Genesis 1:1 shows how God reveals Himself. “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” How does God reveal Himself in Genesis 1:1? God reveals Himself through His creation. On Christmas Day 1968, the three astronauts of Apollo 8 circled the dark side of the moon and headed for home. Suddenly, over the horizon of the moon rose the blue and white earth garlanded by the glistening light of the sun against the black voice of space. Those sophisticated men, trained in science and technology, did not utter Einstein’s name. They did not even go to the poets, the lyricists or the dramatists. Only one thing could capture the awe inspiring thrill of this magnificent observation. Billions heard the voice from outer space as the astronauts read it: “In the beginning God…” The only concept worthy enough to describe that unspeakable awe, unutterable in any other way is to say, “in the beginning God created..."

But that was 1968 when we were more Biblically literate. Do people still believe there was a force outside of us that put the world together? There is a great divide today between secularists and those with a Christian worldview. The secularists start with a basic commitment to a naturalistic universe. Humans are thus an evolved species who must find some way to organize themselves into meaningful units, limit their behavior, direct their energies and pass the world on to the next generation. Evangelical Christians, on the other hand, are committed to a supernatural worldview, which starts with the purposeful creation of the universe by God. Human beings are a special creation of God, made in His own image, and are granted important privileges, responsibilities and gifts that are to be used to God’s glory.

Do you know what is amazing? The evolutionists remain frustrated that the vast majority of Americans simply will not buy the evolutionary hypothesis. Even though they are not credentialed scientists, most Americans have a fairly good grasp of reality. As they observe the world, they are unable to accept an explanatory theory that says that everything – from human beings to the starry heavens above – just “happened” and came to exist without any design whatsoever.

Here is the good news that comes from Genesis 1:1: you are not an accident of evolution. You didn’t just happen. You were created by a creative, personal God who knows you intimately. I pray that God will reveal Himself to you more clearly today.

Nobody has ever inspired the human race the way that Jesus did. I don’t know of any other person in human history who has a whole academic field named for them as does Jesus Christ: the field of Christology. Colossians 1:15-20 makes some of the most staggering claims about the person Jesus Christ that has ever been made about any person in human history. When Paul writes “He” I am going to write “Jesus” so we can be staggered and inspired again by what Paul is saying. “(Jesus) is the image of the invisible God; (Jesus) the firstborn over all creation. For by him (Jesus) all things were created; things in heaven and on earth; visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers of authorities, all things were created through (Jesus). (Jesus) is before all things and in (Jesus) all things hold together. And (Jesus) is the head of the body, the church; (Jesus) is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in all things (Jesus) might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in (Jesus). And through (Jesus), to reconcile to Himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through (Jesus) blood, shed on the cross.”

Those are unbelievable words. This passage is actually a poem or a hymn and it was not the last time a human being would be so inspired by the person of Jesus, that they would feel the need of some kind of artistic vehicle to express it.

Who is Jesus? Colossians 1:15-20 says:

· When you see Jesus, you see God;

· Jesus, as the divine Son of God, created all things;

· Because Jesus is God, He has the right to have the first place in your life.

You may say, “So what? What difference does it make?” Because of who Jesus is and what He has done, believers are called to live daily under His lordship. Paul challenged the Colossians in this regard when he wrote: “Whatever you do, do it enthusiastically, as something done for the Lord and not for men, knowing that you will receive the reward of an inheritance from the Lord – you serve the Lord Christ” (Colossians 3:23-24).

Reggie McNeal tells of sitting on a bench on a beach boardwalk late one afternoon, resting after an hour walk. He had passed a woman in a green uniform pushing a broom several times. She came toward his bench doing her meticulous sweeping of the sidewalk. Suddenly she stopped, wiped her forehead, and rested on her broom. Reggie called out to her: "You do a great job."

"Thank you," she replied. Then she added something that explained why the sidewalk behind her was spotless. "I just believe people want to walk on a clean sidewalk." Reggie was humbled to be in the presence of a worker who viewed her task with such significance. Whatever the park service was paying her, there's no way they could have demanded the excellence she brought to her work. That kind of motivation comes from within.

Whatever you do, do it for the glory of God. Martin Luther King Jr said it like this: If it falls your lot to be a street sweeper, sweep streets like Michelangelo painted pictures, sweep streets like Beethoven composed music, sweep streets like Shakespeare wrote poetry. Sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will have to pause and say: Here lived a great street sweeper who swept his job well.

May you be inspired by who Jesus is that you live a life whole heartedly devoted to Him.